Bowling Green scouting report

Central Michigan may have won the battle against Western Michigan last week, but they lost several wars along the way.

Central Michigan allowed 40 out of 66 completions to Tim Hiller last Saturday, which included 410 yards and two touchdowns. Those stats do not bode well for the CMU defense as they head into a game featuring a better passing attack in Bowling Green.

Bowling Green QB Tyler Sheehan is 4th in the nation in total offense and throws to the national leader in receptions WR Freddie Barnes.

So if we gave up 410 yards to an average passing attack how is CMU going to step up against an elite passing attack?

Sack Lunch

Bowling Green should be without starting center Ben Bojicic (Soph.) and reliant upon either a true freshman or redshirt freshman on an offensive line which already ranks 105 in the country in sacks allowed (20).

Sacking, pushing, chipping, hands in his face...any clean contact CMU's defense can get on Sheehan to disrupt his rhythm will be essential to escape Bowling Green with a win.

CMU also needs to unleash defensive end Caesar Rodriguez (Fresh.) on Bowling Green. The film doesn't lie, and Rodriguez is like a howitzer that CMU currently has a tarp over, out of respect to the seniors on the team. Lets take the tarp off one of our biggest guns in our arsenal and annihilate the Bowling Green aerial attack by pressuring Sheehan.

Freddie Barnes

Fresh off a recent appearance on ESPN First Take WR Freddie Barnes hype probably ellipses that of our own media darling Dan LeFevour. But when you look at the statistics that is all Barnes really is -- hype.

Before playing bottom feeders Kent State and Ball State Freddie Barnes had only two touchdowns. Yes, he scored six touchdown in his last two games against those respective teams, but look at his stats against defenses that aren't populated by scrubs.

Against Ohio, Boise State, and Mizzu, Barnes averaged 59 yards and never found the end zone as a receiver (rushed for one TD against Ohio).

We can play man defense on Barnes as long we are getting good pressure on Sheehan. Freddie Barnes is about half as lethal as Buffalo's Naaman Roosevelt, and we survived his talents.

So don't believe the Freddie Barnes hype, Sheehan is the real threat. If Barnes has a great game is will be a result of Sheehan's talent to get him the ball along with our failure to disrupt Sheehan's rhythm.

Tyler's Talent

Central Michigan should win fairly easily on Saturday but when we enter into QB TylerSheehan's territory on Saturday, Doyt Perry Stadium, I wouldn't be surprised if we find ourselves in an old fashioned QB duel.

Sheehan's stats are scary because they don't reveal any weakness outside of his game against Boise State where he gave up two costly interceptions.

On the year Sheehan is averaging 334 passing yards per game, with 14 touchdown passes and only four interceptions.

His real weakness is his patch work offensive line, and like all QB's, he won't be very successful if we can pressure him consistently.

Bowling Green's Defense

Defensively this is a pretty weak team. Here are some of the uglier stats:

#86 in total defense

#110 rush defense

#109 sacks

#103 tackles for a loss

#94 scoring defense

Central Michigan won't need to tweak their offense to beat Bowling Green. We should be able to execute that same loving spoonful of Dan LeFevour and company that CMU fans are used to, and score plenty of points.

The only area that Bowling Green can hang their hat on is their passing defense which is ranked in the top 30 nationally. However giving such a porous rush defense, it is obvious that teams don't bother wasting their time with the pass when than can run all over the Falcons.

Butch Jones talks Bowling Green

Reporter Dan Chalk of the Midland Daily News did a nice interview with CMU head coach Butch Jones. H are a few of the choicest quotes from that article:

On Tyler Shehaan: "He's very impressive," Jones said. "He's very tough, very physical. He's in tremendous control of their offense. He definitely has a presence about himself, a confidence, and he's very efficient to say the least."

On the 5th road game of the year: "The good thing is we've had a lot of practice at (playing on the road)," Jones said. "We just talk about how it takes much greater focus and concentration (to win on the road), and we're going to need all that on Saturday."

On keeping the team focused: "We tell the (players), 'The more you win, the more there is at stake,'" said Jones, whose is 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the MAC going into Saturday's MAC contest at Bowling Green (Ohio).

Bowling Green secondary: "They have a very skilled secondary," Jones said of the Falcons. "The defensive line really gets after it. They're a complete football team. I just have a tremendous amount of respect for them."